Issue 60 - Malt moments

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Malt moments

Some months are just packed with events you just want to savour,says Rob Allanson

Well an incredible amount has happened since the last issue of Whisky Magazine hit the stands.

There has been a lot of what you could call ‘malt moments'.

The first, and most life changing, has to be that I have joined the great fatherhood club.

Not the only birth in the whisky world as Scott Davidson, of Glencairn Crystal fame, has also become a father for the first time, so life has indeed changed for the pair of us.

Although I had wonderful visions of heading home from the hospital and cracking open some magic malt (with my wife's blessing), life intervened.

I got back, opened a beer, managed half of it and promptly fell asleep.

So much for the malt moment.

However I redeemed myself on a recent trip to Speyside. There is something about getting up to this wonderful region of Scotland and having a dram or two.

There is a hard to explain, but very appreciable factor drinking in the heart of a dram's creation. The weather, the landscape and the people all combine to make for some wonderful moments.

First to the Macallan. Sipping a Fine Oak 18 year old in the newly refurbished Easter Elchies House, it was easy to realise that this particular trip was going to be a bit special.

The next day lived up to the first. I know there is the saying about waiting for the sun to go over the yardarm before drinking, but when you are at Glenfarclas with George Grant at 9am and he offers something special…well who can refuse.